


Liminal

by NimbleBug



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Dimension Travel, F/F, F/M, Inquisitor!Noctis, M/M, Mage!Noctis, Rogue!Ignis, Rogue!Prompto, Warrior!Gladio
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-05 16:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18832690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NimbleBug/pseuds/NimbleBug
Summary: Noctis wasn't sure what was going on.All he remembers is being chased by giant spiders in some unknown place and a woman reaching out for him, before waking up in chains with a glowing green mark on his hand.Now he is in a strange land with all it's inhabitants looking to him to save them from a giant hole in the sky, that may or may not be there because of him, and finding a way back home. At least he still has his friends by his side.





	1. A Cold Welcome

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've recently read, Drowning in a Daydream by EvilofEden, and absolute loved it!  
> Though after finding out it hadn't been updated in over a year, I decided i couldn't wait and just had to try my hand at writing this crossover.
> 
> It you haven't read it, I suggest you do, it's really good!  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/9809723/chapters/22027178

Chapter One  
A Cold Welcome

 

Consciousness came back to him with a shuddering breath. 

Only to turn into a cough as the cold seared it’s way through his throat and lungs leaving a stinging sensation in its wake. Blue eyes peered open adjusting to the dim light that a torch, of all things, gave off. What had happened? His limbs were so cold they were shaking, his head was splitting like someone had took an axe to it and his mouth was drier than a desert. That didn’t even touch the pain that was stabbing itself into the palm of his right hand and radiating up through his arm. 

Through the pounding in his head, Noctis tried to understand where he was and, more importantly, why he was alone. From what he could see it looked like he was kneeling in some medieval dungeon, heaviness around his wrist made him aware of the metal shackles that kept him chained to the floor. Who used shackles that these any more, or torches for that matter. 

It had to be Niflheim. There would be no other reason that he would be held prisoner. Though why the technologically advanced nation would still be using archaic means such as these escaped him. As much as he hated to admit it, without their royalty being magically inclined like in Insomnia, Niflheim had made up the gap by being far superior in the technology department. Did their government decide to pull back in the peace treaties? Had he been captured as as declaration of war? What of the others? The thought that Niflheim didn’t need his friends alive like they did him was a bitter pill to swallow. No, he wouldn’t let himself believe they were actually….dead..unless he saw it with his own eyes. He’d find them and they would fight their way back home if they had to. 

Though guessing at the where he was did not answer the question on how he got here. Everytime he tried to recall the, ambush perhaps, not knowing how else he could have ended up here, he got nothing but fuzzy images. He had been on a road trip, with his guardians, for...for what? What was the reason he had been allowed outside the barrier for one of the first times in his life. 

Blonde hair and a white dress flashed through his mind, before the splitting of his skull decided to tear the image apart. Noctis had brought his hands up to cradle his head, but a flash of green light stopped him. Had that...had that come from him?

Before he could form another thought, the light crackled once more, feeling like it was trying to burrow it’s way into his very bones. Noctis let out a pained groaned, curling in on himself. Knowing that had this happened anywhere else his three friends would be circling him in an instant, demanding to know what was wrong and how they could help. The absence of their mothering just solidified the unfamiliar loneliness that surrounded him. 

What had Niflheim done to him? The sudden realization of what it meant to be a prisoner of war, a royal prisoner of war, hit him like a speeding truck. He wasn't ashamed to admit that even though he knew how to fight, mostly thanks to training with Gladio, but also with the top members of the crownsguard as well, he had been sheltered his entire life from the true horrors of the world behind the magic barrier around the city. Now all of that had been ripped away in what felt like the blink of an eye and the thought of the consequences that followed had his heart beating wildly in his chest. 

His breathing, that had started to get jagged, was suddenly caught in his throat as his panic attack was cut short by a sudden brightness that filled the cell as the wooden door was thrown open. Four men in armor entered and quickly surrounded him, the sound of their blades being unsheathed filling the silence. Two shadows crept along the stone floor, ever closer to the prince’s knelt form as their footsteps echoed against the stone walls. Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, he forced his ocean colored orbs to shoot up from the floor, meeting the silhouettes that were shrouded in darkness. 

As they stepped closer he could see that it was two women. The first, that had taken to circling him like a hawk, had black hair cut pixie style, she was obviously a warrior if the scar marring her cheek and the sharp looking sword that hung from her hip said anything about it. Plus the breastplate that she wore, displaying a symbol like seemed to be an eye. Noctis raked his brain for a meaning for it, trying to recall his mandatory studies, but came up blank. Ignis was always better at remembering all the sigils that was required as to not offend any noble. What he did know was that it wasn’t any symbol that was associated with the Nifilemian Empire. 

The second woman stepped forward into the light, grabbed in purple from head to toe, with red hair peeking out from the hood covering her head. Though she had minimal armor he didn’t see any obvious weapons on her, not that that meant anything, it’s not like he carried the Engine Blade on his person. 

As Noctis took in the people surrounding him, his resolve that his captures being nifilemian was starting to waver. No one here looked like they were from the Empire, not that he had ever seen one in person. The image from the horror stories he had grown up on that circles around his kingdom brought the image of a monster with pointed teeth and claws, more closer to a daemon than a human. He knew realistically that that wasn’t true, but he doubted any one from Insomnia had a good mental image of nifilemians and vice versa. Culminated years of war and propaganda had warped most people's perception of the ‘other’. 

“Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you now,” the first woman spoke up from where she had stopped behind him. Her breath ghosting on his ear, sending unpleasant tingles down his spine. 

He found himself straightening up, chin leveling with the floor and eyes staring straight ahead, partly from the tingles and partly from his royal heritage. POW or not, he was the prince of Insomnia, next in line for the throne, he was not going to cower in front of any enemy, nifileiman of not.

Noctis didn’t even get the chance to open his mouth, to defend or dig himself into a deeper hole with a smart remark, before she continued, “The conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead. Except for you.” 

She had completed her circle and was planted back in front of him again. He could only look at her in confusion, who used the word conclave anymore. Though considering the cell, he supposes he shouldn’t be surprised. 

It only took a second for the realization to set in, making his eyes widen and jaw clenched in anger, “You can’t actually be accusing me of killing a group of people,” he ground out.

“I’m not some monster, unlike-,” Noctis stopped himself mid sentence. While he was sure that his captures weren’t from the empire, he still didn’t know where their loyalties lay and considering they had the prince of Insomnia in chains, the chances of them being on his side wasn't look to good.

He could tell, from the corner of his eye that the woman in purple had caught his slip up, but said nothing of it. His attention was quickly brought back to the black haired woman when she gripped his wrist in a bruising hold. Noctis was practically thrown forward, the only thing keeping him from face planting was the woman's own strength, as his body was unused to the manhandling. 

"If that is so, then how do you explain this?," She questioned, twisting him palm to face him. The tightness told him there diffidently was a hand shaped bruise forming, though that pain was overshadowed when the mark decided to flair up again dramatically.

The weight of the shackles brought his hands back down to his lap after she let go, "What are you talking about? You're the ones who did this to me!,"

The warrior let out a humorless laugh and he could see the other woman narrow her eyes slightly as she stepped toward him with a scrutinizing look. "And I suppose we also pushed you out of the breach as well!," his interrogator exclaimed.

"Breach?," Noctis asked, trying to keep an eye on both of the woman, "I don't know what that it,"

"Liar!," she rounded on him suddenly, gripping his shoulders. Great, two more bruises to add to his growing collection, Noctis thought with a pained grunt.

Luckily her hold didn't last long, as her companion gripped the woman's arm, far more gently then the treatment to his shoulders, and pushed her back, "We need him, Cassandra, remember what Solas said, plus his companions only agreed to help so long as he remained unharmed, and right now we need all the battle hands we can get,"

That got Noctis' attention, and for the first time the redhead had his undivided attention, "My Companions? You mean Gladio, Ignis, Prompto? Their alive?," He asked, the cold forgotten as it was chased away by hope. He made a move to stand, but the swords aimed at him by the guards had him aborting the action.

She paused to look at him, seeming as though she was pulling every secret he had ever had in his entire life from his body with her very eyes. She nodded, much to his relief, before saying, "As far as when I last laid eyes on them, they have already been questioned and instead of waiting around for you to awaken, we had them take up arms against the demons that are pouring out of the rifts,"

His relief faded back into confusion by the end of her statement, shaking his head, Noctis trailed off, "Breach, demons, rifts? This mark?," Opening his palm to stare into the swirling green, "What is going on?,"

"We were hoping you could tell us," he heard her say, but her voice failed to tear his gaze from the mark upon his palm. Was he going crazy or was it slightly bigger than when he first laid eyes on it? 

Though she knew she no longer had the prince's undivided attention, she continued in an almost calming voice, "Do you remember what happened? How this began?,"

The scrunching of his face, clued her that he had heard her even though he never looked up and after a moment he whispered, "I...I remember being in a strange place...I didn't know how I got there, but my guardians, they were there as well....and then there was something chasing us, a woman was there, I think?," He finished speaking, bring his palm up to his face as the pain in his hand and head fought for dominance. 

"A woman?," 

After a few steadying breaths, Noctis continued, "She reached out, like she wanted to help, but," he continue, the pain of trying to remember was over whelming. His head was starting to feel foggy, whatever it was that he couldn't remember his mind certainly wanted to keep it that way.

From what sounded like through muffled headphones, he head the woman, Cassandra speak, thankfully not to him, "Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will take him to the rift,"

He didn't see the one he now knew as Leliana leave, and after what could have been a few seconds to a few years, he felt the shackles being unlocked. The sound of jingling metal seemed to bring him some much needed clarity. As he looked up he saw Cassandra on one knee in front of him with an unreadable expression.

"What is happening?," he heard himself asking, to numb from the shock of it all to stop the words falling from his lips.

She gripped his bicep, thankfully not in a bruising fashion this time, and hoisted him to his feet without barley any help from his end. Once he had his feet under him, she answered, "It..will be easier to show you," as she tied his wrist together with a string of rope before leading him forward.

Noctis was starting to regret ever leaving the safe haven of his city.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Noctis didn’t think it was possible, but the temperature seemed to drop even lower as soon as the door swung open. The hairs on his arms stood to attention as goosebumps raced the length of his body. His short sleeve jacket and capri pants weren’t going to cut it. 

As his eyes adjusted to the light that bounced off the snow that covered the ground and rooftops, he scanned his surroundings to try and place exactly where he was. His eyes widened as he took in everything, it was like he had stepped into a medieval dream world, complete with shabby wooden houses and piles of stone walls. But, the cutting chill of the wind and the burning of the rope rubbing against his wrist let him know that what he was seeing was reality. 

As he turned to the left a green light caught the corner of his eye. His mouth opened in shock as his body refused to follow any command, paralyzed he could do nothing but stare at the giant hole that ripped the sky open. The clouds around it almost looking that the beginning of a tornado, but instead of a twister a spiral of green, something twisted out of the eye. He had never seen anything like it before or heard about it in any of his studies. 

“We call it the breach.” Cassandra’s voice broke through his shock, “It’s a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour,”

“That’s what you were saying I fell out of?,” he asked, gaze never leaving the swirling vortex.

Nodding she answered, “You and your companions, yes,”

Noctis couldn’t help but think that it was no wonder they didn’t trust him, especially if demons were appearing from the same place. He shuddered at the thought of deamons back home finding a way to terrorize the land during the day. In the back of his mind he tried to figure out how he survived a fall from that height. 

“It’s not the only such rift, either,” the warrior continued, “Just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the conclave,”

“An explosion? What kind of explosion could do that?,”

“If I knew that, I would not be standing here with you,” was her answer as she stepped closer, snow crunching under her boots, “From what we can tell, unless something is done the breach will continue to grow, possibly not stopping until it swallows the world,”

The second the last symbol had passed her lips the breach pulsed dramatically. Noctis would have commented on the theatrics, but all that came out was a pained scream as his mark answered with it’s own pulse. 

Knees buckling, his shins met the frozen ground, soaking his pants legs, as he practically curled himself around his glowing fist. 

“Each time the breach expands, your mark spreads...and it is killing you,” Cassandra’s voice had him lifting his head to meet her eyes, from where she had knelt in front of him, through his squinted own as he tried to regulate his breathing.

A shiver passed through him, that had nothing to do with the chill, at her words. An uneasiness settled in his stomach, like he had just swallowed a rock. He had never had to think about his own mortality, even with his Kingdom being at war it had always been someone else, a soldier, a crownsguard, who’s life was on the line. Behind the safety of the barrier he had never even given death, at least his own, a second thought. Now it was glowing bright green and starting him straight in the face. 

He heard Cassandra sigh, before saying, “I know this is a lot to take in, Prince Noctis,”.

When his eyes shot up to meet her own, she continued, “Your companions told us of your title and of a Kingdom that no one has ever heard of. Whether these facts are true or not remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, we can not sit back and do nothing. You can not sit back and do nothing, that mark could be our only chance to stop this, but there isn’t much time,”

Shoving his fear aside, Noctis swallowed, “How is this thing suppose to do anything, but lead to my death?,”

“Solas, one of the healers that tended to you, theorized that it may be able to close the breach, whether that’s possible is something we shall discover shortly,” she seemed troubled as she continued, “What we do know is that it is our only chance, however, and yours,” 

Her brown eyes pierced his blue, like she could see straight through him to his new found fear of his own mortality. Who was he kidding? She probably could.

Sighing in acceptance, Noctis said, “Alright, I’ll try, but I’m not making any promises that I will be able to help close that thing,”

Nodding she answered, “As things are now, that is all we can ask for,” before taking hold of his bicep once more and helping him to his feet.

“Not like I have much choice, when both my life and the world are depending on it,”

A grunt was all she gave him as she kept a hand on his back to lead him forward. People, all dressed in old timey cloth and leather, watched them as they passed. That part was nothing new, he was use to being watched at all times if not from adoring citizens than stoic guards tasked with making sure he stayed safe. It was the glares and judgmental glances sent his way that threw him for a loop. For the first time in his life, Noctis found himself keeping his gaze to the ground, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

Feeling the tensing muscles underneath her hand, the seeker spoke up, “They have decided your guilt. They need it,”

“But, I didn-,”

“It does not matter, right now you are our only suspect, and it is enough for them to direct their grief and put all the blame on you,” she interrupted.

“Thats-that’s not fair,” he practically whispered, finding he didn’t want his accusers to hear him and have another reason to hate him.

“Perhaps, but do not judge them to harshly, they lent their home for a chance of peace and now they are caught in the middle of a war that has already taken many love ones,” Cassandra defended them, “Not only do they grieve for those they have lost, but for our Most Holy, Divine Justinia, Head of the Chantry,”

Noctis wasn’t exactly sure what a most holy or Divine was, but with the way Cassandra was talking about her, he couldn’t help but think of Luna and her role as an Oracle.

“The Conclave was hers, it was a chance for peace between mages and templars,” his capture continued, as the tents and their inhabitants dwindled to trees and boulders on either side of their path, “She brought their leaders together. Now, they are dead,”

“Why were they fighting? The mages and templars,” he asked. 

“That is the question isn’t it, and I’m sure you’ll get a completely different answer depending on who you ask,” she told him as they approached a set of large wooden doors, “But, like most wars, it mostly boils down to different ideals,”

Noctis could understand that, after all the reason his home country was at war was because Niflheim had the ideals of being world conquering douchebags, Insomnia disagreed. The guards must have heard the seeker’s voice, as the gate was pushed open as soon as they got close enough without any prompting. 

“But, despite it all, we need to come together, this threat is bigger than anything we have ever faced before,”

“From my experience, getting people who disagree so strongly isn’t an easy task,” Noctis pointed out. He knew just the thought of having to work along side an Nifilhiemian left a bad taste in his mouth. 

She sighed from beside him, she continued as they started crossing the cobblestone bridge, “Yes, that’s why Divine Justinia organized this conclave, with her gone we lash out, much like the sky. But, we must think beyond ourselves. As she did. Until the breach is sealed,”

“She sounds like she was one of a kind,” Noctis spoke up as they stopped halfway across, “I’m sorry for your loss,”

Cassandra turned to him, pulling a knife out of its sheath, for a second Noctis thought he might have overstepped and was fixing to get stabbed in the gut. Instead she took hold of his wrist, before slicing the rope in two with a single cut. 

“She was,” Cassandra answered, looking at him with what he thought might be half pity, half suspicion, “There will be a trial. I can promise no more. Come. It is not far,”

“Are we headed all the way there?,” he asked, rubbing his raw wrists.

“Not yet, first your mark must be tested on something smaller than the breach,” she answered as they restarted their walk, but not before she opened a crate a pulled out a thick green jacket.

“Thanks,” he said, taking it from her outstretched hand and putting it on. As he buttoned it up he couldn’t help but think that it was the most color he had worn in months. It wasn’t really his style, but at least it would keep his teeth from chattering. 

They passed a few more people, all to worried about everything going on to pay him much attention. As they reached the end of the bridge Cassandra called out, “Open the gate! We are heading into the valley,”

Noctis couldn’t help the dread that filled his stomach. Those words almost sounded like a death sentence.


End file.
